A MULTI-LOCAL APPROACH Finnish beverage company Olvi Oyj focuses on agility, flexibility and a multi-local approach. Abigail Saltmarsh finds out more about the operation.
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innish brewer Olvi Oyj has a heritage stretching back through the decades and prides itself on its “multi-local” approach. This, together with its emphasis on agility and flexibility, has seen it develop a strong business – one from which it hopes to continue to develop and grow. Marketing director Olli Heikkilä says the company is still headquartered at the site from which it launched back in 1878. “Olvi is still located in Iisalmi, Finland, in the very same building where brewing started and the company was founded 134 years ago. Nowadays not even the offices fit into this building, where 134 years ago we had the brewing house and warehouse, as well as the offices. “We have expanded production several times during the years. This year we have
also invested in the facilities, adding more fermenting tanks and additional canning capacity. A new filtering system has also just been built.”
A growing operation The company was founded in 1878 by master brewer William Gideon Åberg and his wife Onni. Their aim was to combat drunkenness. In order to do this, they wanted to offer milder alternatives to those with a thirst for alcohol. At the time there were about 78 breweries operating in Finland. Olvi is the only one of them that remains an independent Finnish company. Today, the Olvi Group comprises five brewing companies; one in Finland, one in Belarus and one in each Baltic state. Its
subsidiaries are AS A. Le Coq, A/S Cesu Alus, Volfas Engelman and OAO Lidskoe Pivo. The Olvi Group employs more than 2,000 people. “We have 1,939 employees in five countries: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus,” says Mr Heikkilä. “Output was 518 million litres last year. This year it will be more. Turnover was €285 million last year – again, this year it will be more.”
Renowned for beer Olvi operates in around 10 categories, he continues. These include beer, cider and flavoured alcoholic beverages, as well as mineral waters (still and sparkling), soft drinks, juice, functional drinks, energy drinks and kvass. “But Olvi is known for its beer. The parent company has manufactured beer for 134
